Obama honors Holocaust Remembrance Day

Jan. 27, 2014
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President Obama / Carolyn Kaster, AP

by David Jackson, USA TODAY

by David Jackson, USA TODAY

President Obama urged the nation and world Monday to remember the victims on International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

"Each year on this day the world comes together to commemorate a barbaric crime unique in human history," Obama said in a statement. "We recall six million Jews and millions of other innocent victims who were murdered in Nazi death camps. We mourn lives cut short and communities torn apart."

Saying there remains room for hope on this solemn day, Obama noted that Jan. 27 is also the date on which Auschwitz was liberated 69 years ago.

"The noble acts of courage performed by liberators, rescuers, and the Righteous Among Nations remind us that we are never powerless," Obama said. "In our lives, we always have choices. In our time, this means choosing to confront bigotry and hatred in all of its forms, especially anti-Semitism."

Obama also said people should condemn "any attempts to deny the occurrence of the Holocaust," and "doing our part to ensure that survivors receive some measure of justice and the support they need to live out their lives in dignity."

The rest of Obama's statement:

"On this International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Michelle and I join the American people and our friends in the State of Israel and around the world as we reaffirm our obligation not just to bear witness, but to act.

"May God bless the memory of the millions, and may God grant us the strength and courage to make real our solemn vow: Never forget. Never again."